SMU SOE Online Seminar (May 21, 2021, 4pm-5.30pm): Urban Welfare: Tourism in Barcelona

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ABSTRACT We develop a simple methodology to estimate the heterogeneous welfare effects of any small shock to residents within a city. The methodology relies only on modest assumptions regarding residents’ choice of where to consume and work and delivers an expression that shows that the welfare elasticity to any small shock can be written as a function of (1) the spatial patterns of consumption and income; and (2) the price and wage effects of the shock. We then apply this methodology to ask the question: Is tourism good for locals? Using detailed spatial data on expenditure and income patterns of residents in Barcelona, we show that plausibly exogenous shifts in tourist expenditure due to compositional differences in their country of origin across time and over space in the city crowds out local expenditure by increasing prices but partially compensates through increases in wages. The incidence of the tourism shock, however, is highly heterogeneous across the city, with inner city residents bearing the largest welfare losses and peripheral residents enjoying the greatest welfare gains. Click here to view the CV.		This seminar will be held virtually via Zoom. A confirmation email with the Zoom details will be sent to the registered email by 20 May 2021.
		PRESENTER Rocio Madera Southern Methodist University
		RESEARCH FIELDS Macroeconomics Household Consumption Labor Economics
		DATE: 21 May 2021 (Friday)
		TIME: 4.00pm - 5.30pm